Humphries, Moyse and a changing Canadian Olympic ethos

PHOTO: Al Bello/Getty ImagesKaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse (R) of Canada team 1 celebrate during the flower ceremony after winning the gold medal during the Women's Bobsleigh on Day 12 of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at Sliding Center Sanki on February 19, 2014 in Sochi, Russia.

SOCHI, Russia – In the blur of events that began the moment she defended her gold medal at the Olympics, Kaillie Humphries was whisked away for a urine test, placed on a phone call with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, shepherded into rounds of interviews and asked to represent the entire Canadian team in the closing ceremony.

Humphries, the pilot, and Heather Moyse, the brakeman, trailed after the first three runs of the two-woman bobsled, but rallied to win the same medal they’d won four years earlier, in Vancouver. The Canadians are the first pair to win consecutive gold medals in their sport, and were on Sunday hailed as representatives of an evolving approach to the Olympics in Canada.

Gold medalists Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse wrote a note to the women’s hockey team ahead of the gold medal game vs the USA.

“I think that fear is that we might not be Canadian if we want to be best in the world, and I don’t think we have to fear that at all,” said Steve Podborski, the retired ski star serving as Canada’s chef de mission in Sochi. “We’ve managed to do both sides right; we’ve managed to say we want to be the best in the world and still be great in being Canadian.”

“We enjoy being polite, being respectful, but also having that no-holds-barred attitude,” Humphries said.

Following the country’s success at the Vancouver Olympics four years ago, when Canada led all countries with 14 gold medals, the expectations on athletes have changed. Running in a strong fourth place is no longer considered a moral victory, with organizations such as Own The Podium and B2ten — the group of 15 wealthy Canadians who have filled a pot with $20-million to fill funding gaps — looking only at medals.

Targeting elite athletes runs counter to the way amateur athletics has worked in the past in Canada, where the carding system provided athletes with similar funding and similar training regimens. And it is far removed from an era when speedskater Gaetan Boucher would be out of pocket to buy a new pair of skates.

“When it comes to competition, we’re extremely fierce,” Humphries said. “We are, and will continue to be, the world’s best. And that’s it: I don’t go into anything knowing that I can’t do it to the very best of my ability — and I believe and I know that the best of my ability is good enough to be the best in the world.”

That does not mean they abandon all the traits Canadians generally value, she said.

Pilot Kaillie Humphries (R) and Heather Moyse jumped into the crowd and started hugging family members after they won gold at the Women’s Bobsleigh in Sanki Slide Centre at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, February 19, 2014. (Ed Kaiser – Postmedia News)

“We’re not going to waver in who we are as people,” Humphries said. “We are a nation that does say ‘please’ and ‘thank-you.’ It’s how we were raised.”

Humphries and Moyse were the first duo chosen to carry the flag in more than a decade, since figure skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier were named after emerging from a judging scandal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. (Hayley Wickenheiser, the veteran women’s hockey player, carried the flag into the opening ceremony in Sochi.)

The bobsledders were expected to win, and they won despite falling behind after the first two heats of their competition. Humphries and Moyse trailed the lead American sled by 0.23 seconds heading into the second day of racing.

They halved that deficit on their third run. And on their fourth run, despite the pressure of expectations, they raced to a gold medal.

“It’s very humbling,” Humphries said. “When you know a nation is choosing you to represent them, not just because of a performance or how you did, but because of the values that you embody … it’s very humbling, and it is a true honour.”

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